Kids go hungry in Tory Britain

Build the fightback against austerity

Photo by Leo Saumure Jr (Creative Commons) (Click to enlarge)

It's the start of the summer holidays; a time when families expect to take a deserved break and enjoy themselves. But in Tory Britain, years of crippling austerity cuts, zero-hour contracts, low pay and high rents have driven millions to use food banks in order to put a meal on the table.

In fact for low-income families who have to claim free school meals for the children, the summer holiday is no longer a time to look forward to because they cannot guarantee a daily square meal for their kids.

And because of Chancellor George Osborne's latest budget, low income families will be further hammered by an extra £12 billion-worth of welfare cuts.

13 million families will lose hundreds of pounds a year because of cuts in working tax credits. And because of cuts in Universal Credit, three million households will lose an average of £1,000 a year... and the list of cuts goes on.

But at the same time the super-rich backers of the Tories continue to accumulate wealth. This year the 1,000 richest families in the UK amassed £547 billion, up £28 billion on last year's total. No problem here buying a fish and chips supper!

The Tories claim their policies will lead to a booming economy and opportunities galore for people to climb the social ladder.

But how can school students study hard for a decent education when their stomachs are empty? How can families afford to send their children to university when the government takes away their grants and makes them pay £9,000 a year tuition fees?

We have to build a mass anti-austerity movement that can roll back the Tories' cuts. That includes the trade union movement coordinating action, including a 24-hour general strike in an opening salvo against the government.

But we also need a political alternative to this crisis-ridden, class-divided capitalist system.

Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party leadership challenge has shown the popularity of anti-austerity ideas. But Labour is still dominated by supporters of welfare cuts. Indeed, only 20% of Labour MPs actually opposed Osborne's budget.

We need a mass, working class, socialist alternative. Join the Socialist Party now to help build it!